Web printing rotary press



Sept. 23, 1 941. I ,H. M. BARBER 2,256,800

WEB PRINTING ROTARY PRESS Filed Dec. 23, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR U W m M law ATTORNEY Sept. 23, 1941. H. M. BARBER 2,255,800

7 WEB PRINTING ROTARY PRESS Filed Dec. 25, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Sept. 23, 1941. H. M. BARBER 2,256,800

WEB PRINTING ROTARY PRESS Filed Dec. 23, 1959 4 Shee-ts-Shet 3 INVENTOR Mk M ATTORNEYS Sept. 23, 1941. H. M. BARBER WEB PRINTING ROTARY PRESS Filed Dec. 25, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 23, 1941 2,256,800 WEB PRINTING ROTARY PRESS Howard M. Barber,

0. B. Cottrell &

Pawcatuck, Conn., assignor to Sons Company,

Westerly, R. L,

a corporation of Delaware Application December 23, 1939, Serial No. 310,788

16 Claims.

which means are provided for driving the form,

rollers of the inking mechanisms at a predetermined constant surface speed and the cylinders of the printing couples at the same surface speed regardless of the size of the said cylinders.

My invention also includes a printing press in which the intermeshing gears of the impression and form cylinders are removable with their redenoted by l and the spective cylinders, a permanent drive being provided for the printing couples, said drive including intermeshing main and auxiliary gears, the auxiliary gears being in line with their respective impression cylinders.

My invention also includes means for rotatively adjusting each pair of impression and form cylinders to bring them into proper regis ter with respect to the other pairs of impression and form cylinders, said adjustment being accomplished by making the intermeshing permanent main and auxiliary gears, spiral gears, each auxiliary spiral gear being slidably interlocked to its removable impression cylinder.

My invention also includes a manually controlled variable speed drive located between said permanent main and auxiliary gears and the maindrive, whereby the change impression and form cylinders may be brought accurately to the same constant surface speed as the form rollers of the inking mechanisms by the manipulation of said variable speed drive.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents a diagrammatic side elevation showing four printing couples having their change impression and form cylinders of a large diameter;

Fig. 2 represents a similar view showing the four printing couples having their change impression and form cylinders of a small diameter;

. Fig. 3 represents a section taken just outside 55 taken in the direction of the arrows.

In the drawings there are shown four printing couples arranged in a circular series around a central axis but it is to be understood that any number of these printing couples may be em- J ployed. The printing couples have change impression and form cylinders of a selected size within wide limits for printing repeat impressions at predetermined intervals on a traveling web, the large change impression cylinders being small change impression cylinders by I. The large change form cylinders are denoted by 2 and the small change form cylinders by 2'. The intermeshing change gears for the large change impression and form cylinders are denoted by 3 and 4 and the intermeshing change gears for the small change impression and form cylinders are denoted by 3* and 4*.

It will be understood that the change impression and form cylinders with their intermeshing change gears are removable from the press for the substitution of chang impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears of a different size, within wide limits, Without disturbing the drive for the said cylinders.

Fixed bearing supports for each of the change impression cylinders are provided by the side frames 5 of the press and movable bearing supports for the change form cylinders are provided by the brackets 6 which are slidable in suitable recesses I in the side frames 5.

The means which I have shown for moving each pair of the form cylinder mounting brackets 6 in their side frames includes a cross shaft 8 having worm and gear connections 9 and Ill at both side frames, with their respective longitudinally disposed screw shafts ll mounted in suitable bearings I2 and I3 in the side frames and having threaded engagements with their respective brackets 6 between said bearings as shown at I 4. The cross shafts 8 may be turned as by a hand crank, not shown, to move the pair of brackets 6 to their desired position. Bolts l5 passing through elongated slots It serve to clamp the bracket; 6 in their adjusted position.

The inking mechanisms Il may be of any well known or approved form and in, the present in-' stance two of these inking mechanisms are carried by one sliding support 13 and the other two by the opposite sliding support l8. The form rollers I! of each inking mechanism are arranged to be brought into and out of contact with their change form cylinder by the movement of the supports l3 toward and away from the change form cylinder, which movement is' imparted to the supports by any well known or approved means, not shown herein. a

The main drive for the press includes a suitable source of power, such for instance as an electric motor 20 which is located between the side frames 5.

The means which I have shown for driving the form rollers of the inking mechanisms from the main drive at a predetermined constant speed is as follows: the shaft 2| of the motor is coupled to the input shaft 22 of a manually controlled variable speed drive 23. The shaft 22 is provided with a bevel gear 24 which meshes spiral gears 43 endwise to rotatively adjust their respective change impression and form cylinders without disconnecting the auxiliary gears from their change impression cylinders.

I have provided manually operated devices 49 of well known or approved form for adjusting the change form cylinders endwise to register the forms across the traveling web. These devices are so arranged that the adjustment can be accomplished while the press is in operation. An example of one of these devices is shown in combination with a device for rotatively adjusta ing the form cylinder in my United States Letwith the bevel gears 25 on the inner ends of sleeve 23 slidable along the shaft 26 and interlocked to the shaft or released therefrom by a manually operatedclutch 29. Each bevel gear 21 meshes with a bevel gear 30 fast on the lower end of an upright shaft 3|, the upper end'of which shaft has a bevel gear connection .32, a

33 with a cross stud shaft 34, which cross shaft has a gear 35 which drives the form rollers I9 of each of the two inking mechanisms mounted in one of the movable stands I. at a predetermined constant speed through the train of gears 33, 31, 38.

The means which I have shown for drivin the change impression and form cylinders of the several printing couples at the same surface speed as the inking mechanism form rollers l3 regardless of the size of the cylinders is as follows: the output shaft 38 0f the variable speed drive 23 is provided with a spiral gear 40 which meshes at all times with a permanent main spiral gear 4| mounted on a shaft 42, the axis of which shaft 42 is centrally arranged with respect to the axes of the. several chang'e impression and form cylinders of the printing couples. Permanent auxiliary spiral gears 43 mesh with the central main spiral gear 4| around its periphery and have their shafts. 44 suitably 7 mounted in auxiliary frames 45, which shafts 44 are in line with the shafts of the change impression cylinders.

The means which I have shown for removably connecting the auxiliary gear shaft 44 to the change impression cylinder shafts and for,

bringing each pair of change impression and form cylinders into proper register with the' other pairs of change impression and form cylinders is as follows: the permanent auxiliary spiral gears 43 have removable and slidable interlocking engagements with their respective change impression cylinders, in the present in-' ters Patent No. 1,745,467, dated February 4, 1930.

From the above description it will be seen that the form rollers of the several inking mechanisms may be positively driven from the motor through the input shaft 22 of the variable speed drive, at a predetermined constant surface speed. It will also be seen that the impression and form cylinders, regardless of their size, may be driven from the motor 20 at the same surface speed as the said form rollers, through the variable speed drive 23 and the permanent main and auxiliary gears; said variable speed drive being capable of manual adjustment to a very exact degree for obtaining the proper surface speed of the change impression and form cylinders.

It will also be seen that the main and auxiliary gears may be permanently mounted because the axes of rotation of the impression cylinders are fixed regardless of-their size. The fact that the axes of the permanent auxiliary gears are in line with the axes of the change impression cylinders permit the changing of the printing'couples without changing their drive.

It will also be seen that by making these main and auxiliary gears spiral gears the endwise movement of the auxiliary gears because of their interlocking connection with their respective impression cylinders serve to rotativelyadjust the impression and form cylinders to bring them into proper register.

It will also be seen that the drive for the printing couples is materially simplified by arranging the permanent main gear centrally with respect to the fixed axes of the change impression cylinders.

It will also be seen that the intermeshing impression and form cylinder gears are removable with their cylinders and changeable as to size corresponding to the size of the impression and form cylinders.

The parts shown and described but not claimed herein form the subject matter of my copending application filed January 8, 1940, Serial No. 312,897, which application is 'a continuation in part of the present application.

It is evident that various changes may be resorted to in the construction, form and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention,

and hence I do not intend to be limited to the particular embodiment herein shown and described, but

What I claim is:

1. In a web printing rotary press, a printing couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising permanent intermeshing "main and auxiliary gears.

2. In a web printingrotary press, a plurality of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising permanent intermeshing main and auxiliary gears.

3. In a web printing rotary press, a circular series of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising a permanent central main gear and permanent auxiliary gears meshing therewith.

4. In a web printing rotary press, a printing couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising permanent intermeshing main and auxiliary gears, the auxiliary gear being in line with and removably connected to the impression cylinder.

5. In a web printing rotary press, a plurality of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising permanent intermeshing main and auxiliary gears, the auxiliary gears being in line with and removably connected to their respective impression cylinders.

6. In a web printing rotary press, a circular series of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising a permanent central main gear and permanent auxiliary gears meshing therewith, said auxiliary gears being in line with and removably connected to their respective impression cylinders.

'7. In a web printing rotary press, a printing couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears, an inking mechanism, and means for imparting a constant surface speed to the form rollers of the inking mechanism and the same surface speed to the change impression and form cylinders regardless of their size, said means including permanent intermeshing main and auxiliary gears, said auxiliary gear being in line with and removably connected to its change impression cylinder and a manually controlled variable speed drive for said permanent gears.

8. In a. web printing rotary press, a plurality of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears, an inking mechanism and means for imparting a constant surface speed to the form rollers of the inking mechanism and the same surface speed to the change impression and form cylinders, said means including permanent intermeshing main and auxiliary gears, said auxiliary gears being in line with and removably connected to their respective change impression cylinders and a manually controlled variable speed drive for said permanent gears.

9. In a web printing rotary press, a circular series of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears, inking mecha-' nisms and means for imparting a constant surface speed to the form rollers of the inking mechanisms and'the same surface speed to the change impression and form cylinders, said means including a central permanent main gear and a plurality of permanent auxiliary gears meshing therewith, in line with and removably connected to their respective change impression cylinders and a manually controlled variable speed drive for said permanent gears.

10. In a'web printing rotary press, a printing couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears, and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising permanent intermeshing main and auxiliary spiral gears, the auxiliary spiral gear being slidably and removably connected'to the impression cylinder.

11. In a web printing rotary press, a plurality of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising permanent intermeshing main and auxiliary spiral gears, the auxiliary spiral gears being slidably and removably connected to their respective impression cylinders.

12. In a web printing rotary press, a circular series of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising a permanent central main spiral gear and permanent auxiliary spiral gears meshing therewith and slidably and removably connected to their respective impression cylinders.

13. In a web printing rotary press, a printing couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears, an inking mechanism for the form cylinder, fixed supports for the impression cylinder, movable supports for the form cylinder, movable supports for the inking mechanism, means for moving the form cylinder and inking. mechanism supports to accommodate impression and form cylinders of a different size and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising intermeshing permanent main and auxiliary gears, the auxiliary gear being in line with and connected to its impression cylinder.

14. In a web printing rotary press, a printing couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing change gears, an inking mechanism for the form cylinder, fixed supports for the impression cylinder, movable supports for the form cylinder, movable supports for the inking mechanism, means for moving the form cylinder and inking mechanism supports to accommodate impression and form cylinders of a different size and means for driving the impression and form cylinders comprising intermeshing permanent main and auxiliary spiral gears, the spiral auxiliary gear being in line with and slidably connected to its impression cylinder.

15. In a web printing rotary press, a plurality of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their intermeshing. change gears, inking mechanisms for the form cylinders, fixed supports for the im- 16. In a web printing rotary press, a plurality of printing couples, each couple comprising change impression and form cylinders and their 'intermeshing change gears, inking mechanisms for the form cylinders, fixed supports for the impression cylinders, movable supports for the form cylinders, movable supports for the inking mechanisms, means for moving the form cylinder and 

